Wonder if a guy could use a ball peen hammer to "form" beads into sheetmetal for my floor pans I am thinking of building? The sheetmetal would be clamped to the support blocks and I would try and form the bead into the u-channel. The bead would take on the shape of the ball peen? Granted it would probably be rough (the finish of the bead) but for a floor pan were I am concerned with strength rather than looks, do you think this plan would work?? Comments...Thanks- trying to get the pic. to come in alittle clearer but can't figure it out-
Yes it will work. Make sure you round over the edge of your hammer form a little to prevent cracks from forming and don't beat it to death...that will work harden the metal. Don't try to go real deep on the beads either. You can make a very respectable patch using this method. It is labour intensive however... This is a "Salt" zone, I've done quite a few old car floor pans this way. A couple passed "Value Appraisal" inspection as having the ORIGINAL floor pans-good condition! I guess HEAVEN is out of the question for me now, huh? Bill
It would be alot of work to do a whole floor but I only have a few patches to do. Would it work better to take a piece of hardwood and use a router to form my hammer form rather than beat the bead down into the u-channel? Thanks-
I've done this kind of bead shaping befor by using a piece of 3/8" or 1/4" solid round bar stock. Lay it where you want the bead and hit the barstock. It keeps the shape more uniform. Also two pieces of 2" square tube by 1/4" wall side by side gives you a nice grove to work into. The Wizzard
That would work fine. I think I would use the ball peen like a punch and a bigger maul to hit it with. That way you can line up the ball peen where you want it. I don't see where the shape of the channel would make any difference. as long as it is only slightly wider than the peen and two thicknesses of metal. Following the punch idea, a longer curved shape punch might work smoother and faster, like the pointy end of a single head/cross peen sledge.
It will work fine but DONT hit a hammer with another hammer one or the other will shatter .. Pre bead roller I used thye ball pein method didnt need a former though .. Just a nice flat cut tree stump. If you draw your lines first off then flip your sheet onto the stump and firmly knock the bead into the sheet with the ball pein of the hammer.. The sheet will distort so flip it over and with a blunted (slightly rounded) chisel go along the edge of the bead defineing the shape of the bead and flatening the sheet.. keep doing the same thing (flipping one side to the other) till you got the bead at the depth you need dress up with a 80 fibre disc and your done ..
It would be much easier to do it with a pneumatic rivit gun. There is an alblum on metalshapers.org showing how Jim Bailie did the same thing. It looked good,with very little distortion,and was pretty quick.
I looked through some of Jim Bailies stuff and didn't see it?? Could you tell me which specific photo album it is in?? Thanks
Hello Everyone, Being new to the forum I hope that I am doing ok by typing my comments here. In regards to Dan's issue with tyhe sheet metal beads. I need to do the same for the floor of a 1962 Bonneville. Summit Racing sells a bead roller for 125.00. I am in the process of getting and trying to make the trunk floor sections from 18 gauge sheet metal. Dan please send me an email to [email protected] and let me know how it goes with your floor project. Thank you all, Israel
The routed grove in a piece of hardwood sounds like it would work fine. I have a length of 3/4 sucker rod welded to a piece of flat bar in a T shape that I use for a lot of bending and banging projects. even a short lengthof flat bar with the end rounded off to use as a male die might work well with the hardwood as a female die.
If this were true we'd have hammers shattering every day when they strike an anvil, chisel, or any other hard steel/iron/whatever. Do you think a hammer knows the difference between an anvil and another hammer? Hammers do "chip" occasionally, but I've never heard of one shattering.
Forming ribs in a floor manually would be a LOT of work. You will want a MDF or plywood die on the bottom. Jim Bailie,and I'm sure others,have done it with a big pneumatic rivet gun for power. Now Jim uses his Helve hammer,to do a nicer job, MUCH quicker than you could do by hand.
me and a guy were beating some hammers together dont remember exactly why somethin to do with a fence, but he was putting alll his south of the border strengh into it while i held the other hammer(i was 14) and yes they did shatter not completly and not on the first hit but it did and we were both bleeding from face neck and arms, didnt find the metal in me but it sure cut the shit out of us, its hard to do but possibly. and chissels and anvils are not hardened, notice a chisel head roll over on it self, i never seen a steel hammer do that
heres a floor i'm doin for a 32.made the floor with no swages.then made a bead roller-but had trouble rolling it as the edge is folded back on itself and also the 1.2mm thickness didn't want to form easily.so rather than remake i swaged using ply with a groove clamped underneath and a lenght of 20mm diameter bar and a big hammer.had to finnish/tidy up using same round bar-turning over and hammering on the bar and lengths of flat bar on edge to define the edges.is bolted down at edges through countersunk inserts to stop edge crushing in.is kinda overbuilt but as seats and seatbelts mount to it wanted to be sure.
Wasn't there a picture of a swaging tool to be used with a hammer in a recent tool thread. On another note, I have seen a guy hit two hammer faces together and a piece splintered off and pierced his thumb pretty bad. A couple of stitches later and he agreed with his boss that he wouldn't be doing that again in a hurry! Michael
Yep They are complete idiots, and have absolutely NO IDEA when it comes to hardening steel. Did I mention that they are idiots? All hammers are not created equal ! Some will last for ever beating against another hammer. Some will chip or splinter when you least expect it. My father has a finger that doesn't bend like normal, because there is a piece of hammer in the knuckle. Don't risk it just to be a tough guy. Use a copper mallet and all will be fine.
Do you have access to a sheet metal brake? The easiest way to make a "bead" would be to make a 45 to 90 degrees brake, then lay the sheet on the ground and step on it to flatten it out. Sounds stupid, but try it and you will get the straightest beeds there is. Poor mans bead roller... And a lot faster than swingin the hammer.
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